Sunday, June 13, 2010

SUNDAY FUNNIES- Kurtzman's REQUIEM

Originally I wanted the title to be SUNDAY FUNNIES - Harvey Kurtzman's REQUIEM FOR REQUIEM OF A HEAVYWEIGHT but you can get just so many words in that little title box.

This came out of the pages of HELP Magazine, Vol 2, No 4, Nov 1962. The illustrations and story is by HELP's editor Harvey Kurtzman. As a matter of fact, there's Harvey now, he is the figure in the shadows on the fright behind Jackie Gleason in the first picture. Kurtzman was very innovative and always trying something new. This time he is combing photographs and cartoonist-art. The plot here is a sketch artist covering the making of the movie REQUIEM OF A HEAVYWEIGHT, with details that is not in the movie but in the background of the movie-set. It is also sort of reeks of the off-beat Kurtzman jazzy overcast.